Project Completion Report (PCR): EU- British Council’s Rs 2.5 billion mediation grant

When all is lost, it is the future that remains

Today is democracy’s blessed moment. It is the day to commemorate Elections, the mechanism for selecting Peoples representatives, to exercise- on People’s behalf- accountability from appointed officials and ensure proper economic management. It is a further upward notch inadvancing continuous responsibility of the governing to the governed. No state officials, elected or appointed, under any circumstances, can absolve themselves from this responsibility, of acting to ensure the best interests of the public.

Public enterprises are institutions owned by the People and the People were given ownership rights in them. They were entrusted with significant powers to uphold public trust requiring them to adhere to the directives of the constitution. If a public official (elected or appointed) did not do so, an injured member of the public could take recourse to the highest court for remedy, for a breach of his/her fundamental rights. (Supreme Court decisions of 12 01 2023 and 11 Nov 2023.)

By coincidence, 1st February this year, is also a day to test these propositions.

The EU granted Euro 7 million (about 2,5 billion), over four years, to strengthen mediation boards, of which there are about three hundred and fifty (350). The donor was the EU but its indirect manager was the British Council. The grant ended on 31 01 2024. A Project Completion Report (PCR) is obligatory.

The record of the British Council in submitting due reports is nil. It has never Submitted annual audit reports, nor did a mid-term review find its way out of the British Council. The British Council is a Black Hole, nothing escapes out of it.

It will be a high probability that the PCR too will never be submitted. The public will not be bamboozled, though. A public spirited member in a pro bono effort will prepare it, though in bed and suffering a faltering memory.

It is a public demand that the British Council submit this PCR by mid-day, 19. 02. 2024.

The handicapped, public spirited individual, will also do so by this deadline. Boththe PCRs – the original and the ersatz ones – should be sent by e-mail.

Jolly Somasundram